ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.,None — There's big transportation news in Central Florida and it is good news for drivers, and those hoping to ride the state's long-awaited SunRail commuter train.
Officials broke ground at the future home of the Altamonte Springs station Friday morning, and WFTV learned new information about the widening of I-4.
Altamonte Springs has been waiting for commuter rail for 22 years. Friday that became a reality as clearing of the land for the SunRail depot began.
The first phase of the project will connect Orlando with DeBary. The city of Orlando is preparing for its downtown station.
WFTV also learned that the long-awaited I-4 widening project could get underway in two to three years.
Before U.S. Rep. John Mica joined other government leaders in pounding in symbolic railroad spikes, signaling the start of SunRail construction, he told WFTV’s Kathi Belich that he's going to introduce a bill next week in Washington. The bill will pave the way for a public/private partnership to get the I-4 widening project going in the next three or four years.
Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad said he was optimistic about getting the I-4 project underway. He said he believes the $1.8 billion road project will get started in two years, by 2014.
FDOT says the SunRail train should be rolling down the tracks in Altamonte in about two years.
Mica says the construction of phase one and phase two of the commuter rail project should put 10,000 to 15,000 people to work each year over the next four years.
It's a $1.6 billion investment just for the first portion. The first 31 miles of rail are not scheduled to be complete until 2014. By 2016, it's expected that a little more than 4,000 people a day will use the line. The line will eventually run from DeLand to Poinciana.
The concern that has been expressed, and has yet to be solved, is how to make it convenient for people to get to the Altamonte depot, and to other planned depots, so that they will use SunRail.
WFTV
